Tour de France: Sarah Gigante falls from second to sixth in final stage
Victory in the penultimate stage on Saturday had put Gigante, 33, within touching distance of joining Cadel Evans as the only Australians to take out the classic race.
But the toll of her solo climb played out in the final stage, losing ground on the Joux-Plane descent to finish the stage seventh.
It knocked her off the final podium as France's Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claimed victory.
'It was two hours of pain, heartbreak and hope all in one,' Gigante said at the finish.
Sarah Gigante climbs the Joux Plane pass. Picture: Julien De Rosa / AFP
'It was a super hard day, I was already feeling not so strong physically going up the Joux Plane,' she said at the finish.
'I was hoping to get away and have a head start before the downhill, but I was pretty much getting dropped by the top.
'And then of course the descent was just so hard. It was a long day out.'
Demi Vollering, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney were all smiles on the podium. Picture: Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP
Gigante had been with Ferrand-Prevot and a few others when they tackled the mammoth 11.6km climb up Col de Joux Plane.
But known to have trouble descending, Gigant was dropped on the long downhill and couldn't regain her place with no teammates to help her,
She ended up nearly seven minutes behind the winner when the final stage was complete.
The other Australians to complete the Tour de France Femmes were Neve Bradbury (71st), Lauretta Hanson (75th), Ruby Roseman-Gannon (78th) and Emily Watts (114th).
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